I'm not much of a tailor/seamstress, so I'd love to have some idea of what I'm up against. And seriously, this would make my life. Talk about having every Halloween sewn up for the rest of your life, eh? (No pun intended!)

So I needed a pair of size eight needles. I needed them bad. My own pair was firmly tangled up in the tricky part of Ysolda's lace-up opera gloves and unavailable. So I used the pair of size eight Clover bamboo straights that are intended for my boyfriend's little sister, who's learning how to knit. She's not here and the gift is going to be a surprise, so I figured she'd never know.

But now they're green.

The blue dye from the yarn has rubbed off and made them a faintly nauseating color. Is there any way I can clean this off? Is dish detergent safe to use on this material? Please help! I will appreciate it beyond all measure, and so will the little sister (although hopefully she'll never know about it ). Thank you, fabulous Craftsters -- you're my only hope!

I am new to sewing and so inspired by all the creations here on Craftster. I'm looking into buying a sewing machine, and I was wondering if the Elna 3210 or 3230 are likely to last.

Are they made of metal?

If you have one, what kinds of fabrics do you sew, and how does the machine react?

I'm wondering if this is a keep-it-for-years, sews-through-layers-of-denim-with-no-problem machine or an unreliable plastic cheapie. I have looked elsewhere for answers to these questions in vain before coming to you guys. Thank you so much!